


Days at the Hunter Base

by multifandom_junkie



Category: Rockman X | Mega Man X
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-21
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:49:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21887716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/multifandom_junkie/pseuds/multifandom_junkie
Summary: We always see the Hunters fighting Mavericks and their struggles in seemingly endless wars, but what about the rare moments where they get to live normal lives?
Comments: 2
Kudos: 24





	1. A Quiet Evening

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Hunter Base has been pretty quiet, X uses this chance to relax.

It was a nice and peaceful day at Maverick Hunter HQ, not a lot had been going on lately, it had been months since the last major incident, ever since then, there had only been a few minor scenes here and there, nothing the Hunters couldn't handle.

A street fight here, a shoplifting there, these were barely considered Maverick incidents.

Everyone was grateful that nothing big had happened so far, but at the same time, it made some of them feel uneasy. After all, a moment of peace felt a little odd after months of major Maverick uprisings, as nice as it was, it would take a while for everyone to unwind.

X was no exception.

He sighed, looking up at the wall of his resting quarters, over the years he had put up dozens of photos and memories there, celebrating Dr. Cain's birthday, watching the sunset with Zero, going to an all-you-can-eat buffet with Axl (That young Reploid insisted that X had to come with him), a party at the Hunter Base after Sigma's first defeat...

The list could go on and on, X smiled, the people he cared about and the memories he made with them... He treasured them dearly.

He decided that he needed to get out and take a breath of fresh air, and so he proceeded to take a nice walk in the park.

Zero was busy training as always, and Axl... Well, who knows what he could be up to? That kid never ceased to surprise him.

And so it was just X, and X alone.

He sat down on a nearby bench and took off his helmet, letting the wind blow his soft, brown hair.

Like the Hunter Base, it was quiet, but unlike the Hunter Base, it made him feel at peace, he closed his eyes, enjoying the moment.

That moment was interupted when he heard the voice of a young girl, he opened his eyes to see that she was playing tag with another kid, he continued minding his own business until he noticed that the same girl was approaching him.

"Excuse me mister, are you X? The famous Maverick Hunter?" She asked, she seemed to be very polite.

"Yes, that's me, is there something you wanted to tell me?" He smiled, he liked talking to young children.

"Well, I just wanted to say thank you, Mr. X, for keeping everyone here safe, as long as you're around, that evil baddie Sigma will never win!" She grinned.

X chuckled, "Well, thank you, this city and its people are very important to me and the rest of the Hunters, after all."

Just as the girl was about to say something, a voice nearby her.

The girl's mother was calling for her, and she turned around to leave, but before she did that, she gave X one last smile and said, "It was nice talking to you, Mr. X!"

X waved her off, shortly afterwards, he smiled to himself, he promised himself to always protect innocents, their memories and their smiles, as long as he was there, Sigma would never see his dreams come to light.

But for now, he just needed to enjoy the peace he rarely got.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes when I'm writing, I can't find a way to properly describe how I want a part of the story to be written, which can cause it to not make sense/not come out the way I wanted it to. Which was the case for near the end of the fic, but I did what I could.


	2. A Good Night's Rest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zero overworks himself in the training room, X shows concern.

Zero put his Z-Saber away, he had spent all day in the training room facing off against virtual copies of past Mavericks, while subjecting yourself to a whole day of training sounded like pain to anyone else, to Zero it was just a daily routine. 

After all, to him, there was nothing else to do with all this time on his hands, leisurely activities were just a waste of time in his eyes, even if it sounded so distant, so far away, he needed to stay alert at all times in case of the next big Maverick incident, he couldn't let his skills go dull.

Of course, this concerned a lot of people at HQ, especially X, despite Zero always forcing himself to perform at 100%, it was obvious that he needed rest.

He was dispatched on a lot of big missions and always volunteered to be on patrol duty, coupled with the fact that he spent ages in the training room leaves little to no room for rest, but to Zero, it didn't matter.

X was always telling him to rest, but Zero always refused to do so, he insisted to keep on training, even if it was increasingly obvious that he needed rest, first he started zoning out in meetings, zoning out slowly turned into struggling to keep his eyes open, that slowly turned into falling asleep in meetings itself, then he began moving sluggishly around base.

No-one ever figured out how he managed to push all of that tiredness away during training and missions, however, as the symptoms of sleep deprivation started to become clearer, it also became harder to mask his exhaustion.

"Zero, I'm telling you, you need to rest, look at you! You're always walking aimlessly around HQ, Always falling asleep during briefings...I'm just worried about you." X told him, placing an arm around his friend.

"X, you're just spouting nonsense." Zero mumbled groggily, "I'm fine, you don't need to worry so much, y'know?" He tried to force a convincing smile on his face, but there was no fooling X.

"Zero, look at yourself, you've got eyebags and you can't even walk steadily, it's a miracle that you still score well in training, you need to rest. Period."

Zero looked away, breaks, rest, it didn't matter, he thought.

It doesn't matter, no matter what, I can't...let...my guard...down...

There was a thud on the ground.

______________________________________________________________

When Zero came to, he felt like he was lying down, on something... soft?

His eyes opened wide, he sat up immediately to analyze his surroundings, when suddenly, a voice caught his attention.

X's voice, to be precise.

"I see that you've finally woken up, I was getting really worried." Zero turned his head to the side to see his best friend sitting beside him.

"X?" 

"Yup, the one and only," he laughed, "Sorry you had to use my bed, I panicked when you passed out and I immediately brought you to my room, I knew that rechargers were more efficient but I thought a bed would be more comfortable and-"

Zero cut him short, "It's alright, thanks for looking out for me, now if you excuse me, I need to go back to training." Just as he was about to step get off of the bed, X grabbed him by the arm, "Nope, not on my watch, I've told you numerous times, you need to rest, Zero, so you're staying here, until your energy's fully restored."

Zero forced a smile on his face, "Thanks, I appreciate the concern, but I think that I've rested for long enough."

X was determined to get Zero to rest, he firmed his grip on Zero's arm and begged him, "Zero, please, I don't want anything like this to happen ever again."

Zero looked at X with a stern face, "Listen, X, I understand that you're concerned about me, but I can't let my guard down, who knows when the next war is going to happen, while everyone's sitting back and relaxing, I have to be the one to be prepared."

X paused for a while, then he said, "Then consider this, Zero, if you don't continue to rest and keep on training nonstop like this, then eventually, when the real fight comes along, you'll be too tired and sluggish to fight properly, which could cost you a lot, so rest is also essential if you want to put up a better fight, so just relax for a while, alright?"

Zero sighed, "X, unfortunately, you make a good point," he smiled, for real this time, "alright, I'll take a break, but you've got to spar with me later, deal?"

"Deal."

And with that, Zero closed his eyes again, and when he woke up, he felt something he hadn't felt in a long time.

Energized.

______________________________________________________________

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I probably wrote Zero too OOC here, and I'm sorry about that, I know that this chapter is basically XZero all over, but it wasn't meant to be like that, as much as I ship XZero, believe me when I say that this chapter isn't supposed to be an XZero fic.


	3. GAME ON!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Axl is unhappy with the amount of nothingness that has been going on as of late, things change as he goes to an arcade for the first time.

Axl was bored.

Well, it was to be expected, with no Maverick incidents around, he was bound to be bored, while he did think that it was nice that Maverick Hunter HQ was quiet for once, he also found it quite...well, boring.

He'd go to the training room sometimes and fight against old Mavericks, but after a while to him it had the same entertainment value and skill needed to watch paint dry.

Occasionally, he'd use his A-Trans ability to take the form of X or Zero in an attempt to confuse and prank the two, but it stopped being fun when they learned how to figure out it was him, the joke lost its charm quickly.

Needless to say, when there weren't any Mavericks around, there wasn't a lot to do around HQ.

But then, a conversation with X and Zero immediately fixed this problem.

"Y'know, Axl, you haven't really been acting like yourself recently." X said, "is there anything going on?"

"Yeah, Axl," Zero nodded his head in agreement, "Normally you'd be pretty...active around HQ, but these days you seem to be quieter than usual, and, since we're talking about you here, well, I'm a little concerned." He smirked, X let out a poorly muffled laugh.

"Yeah, I'm fine, it's just..." Axl paused.

"It's just what?" X asked.

"It's just that I've been pretty bored lately, there haven't been any big missions lately, and there isn't a whole lot to do, so..."

"...So you've been really jaded recently, is that it?" Zero concluded.

"Yeah...that's basically it." Axl said, "Now I really don't know what to do and it's just... bothering me." He looked down, he wasn't sure how much longer he could stand the boredom, He just wanted to do something.

He waited for a response, and when he didn't get one, he looked at X to find that he was deep in thought, after a while, X came up with a solution.

"What about going outside? If you can't find anything to do inside Hunter Base, then why don't you try to find something to do outside Hunter Base? That's what I do most of the time."

Axl's eyes lit up like a candle, instantly bringing back the energetic Axl everyone knew, "That's a great idea! Thanks, X! I'm heading out now!"

And with that, he sprinted out of the door.

"Well, that seemed to solve his problem quickly." Zero remarked.

"Yeah, let's just hope that things don't get out of hand." X joked, they both shared a good laugh.

________________________________________________________

Shortly after his chat with X and Zero, Axl arrived at an arcade in a local shopping plaza, he'd never been to an arcade before, but he'd heard a fair amount about them thanks to Palette, who seemed to go to one every now and then.

While he knew that there were a lot of games in an arcade, he wasn't expecting THIS much.

Come to think about it, Pallette never told me about the kinds of games they had in here. Axl thought, all of the arcade machines looked foreign to him, Rhythm games, Claw machines, Street Brawler, and... Dance Dance Robo-lution? Sounds interesting. He thought to himself.

All of these games looked fun to him, but he had a hard time choosing, finally, he settled on trying out Dance Dance Robo-lution first.

He stepped on the platform connected to the arcade machine, energetic music started playing, and on-screen he saw arrows rising up from below going to the top of the screen, they disappeared once they overlapped with arrows of the same type above, marked as a "miss".

"A miss?" Axl thought, he looked below him, the platform he was standing on had arrows, just like those on the screen.

Suddenly, it made sense, it wouldn't be called "Dance Dance Robo-lution" if there wasn't, well, dancing.

He began to move his feet and step on the arrows according to the ones on-screen, he figured that the closer they were to the arrows on top, the better his score would be.

"GOOD!"

"GREAT!'

"PERFECT!"

"MARVELOUS!"

By the end of the game, he did surprisingly good, despite the major mistakes in the beginning.

"Phew!" Axl wiped sweat off of his face, "That was actually kinda fun!"

"Hey, Axl! Didn't expect to see you here!" A familliar voice came from behind.

Axl turned around, seeing an equally familliar face, "Oh, hey Palette! I was just bored and decided to check out the arcade, you keep on talking about them, after all! I just finished up a round of Dance Dance Robo-lution, I think I did pretty good, whaddaya think?"

Palette stepped closer to examine the screen, "Pffft, you scored a B? Good, maybe, but nowhere near impressive, move aside."

"Wha-?"

Palette shoved him off the platform and started the same level up, "Watch this." She winked.

Axl watched very intensely, the longer she played, the wider his eyes became.

Every movement Pallette made was very precise, and, the more he watched, the more he couldn't believe it.

She hadn't made a single mistake.

By the end of the game, Axl's jaw dropped to the ground.

She managed to get a perfect score.

Palette stepped down from the platform, smiling as she noticed the face of a very shocked Axl.

"So? What'cha think, Axl? Is that impressive or what?" She grinned.

Axl still was trying to recover from his shock, he was lost for words, "Y-y-you wha-? H-how-"

"Relax," Palette put an arm around him, "It took me ages to ace that level, wanna try some other things around here?"

"O-okay..." Axl said, slowly beginning to calm down, "What about that machine over there?"

He pointed to another arcade machine across them, it was a drum-themed rhythm game.

"Sweet! Heheh, Palette, professional drummer, prepared to take the spotlight!" Pallette beamed.

"Heh, we'll see about that," Axl smirked, "Prepare to get your butt kicked!"

They rushed to the nearby machine, going one-on-one, the competition was intense, as the beat got faster, they were getting more and more tense, the sticks on their hands hitting the drums harder and harder, their eyes narrowing closer and closer to the screen-

Finally, the tension broke, the screen rallying up their scores...

P1: RANK A

P2: RANK AA

Axl's screen showered with confetti, the young Hunter raised his arms up in celebration.

"YES!" Axl cheered.

"What?!" Palette gawked in disbelief, "I was so close!!" She pounded her fists on the drums, "How'd you do that?"

Axl beamed, "Heh, I have a few tricks up my sleeve..." By "tricks", he meant sneaking out Red's old drum kit back in his days at Red Alert for secret practice sessions, but hey, Palette didn't need to know, did she?

"Anyways..." he continued, "what about that claw machine over there?"

"A claw machine?!" Palette panicked, "Axl, that's a bad idea, don't-" it was too late, Axl had already sprinted ahead and plopped a Zenny coin inside the machine.

Palette rushed up to him, "Axl, this is a bad idea, it's a claw machine, you're basically paying for nothing!" She pleaded.

"Pfft, what's so bad about a claw machine? All you need to do is grab a toy like so and-"

Plop.

The toy that Axl had successfully grabbed had fallen back down the moment the crane reached the top.

"What?!" Axl frowned, stomping his foot in defeat.

"See? I told you so, here, let me try." She flicked another Zenny coin into the machine.

"And who was the one who said that this was a bad idea?" Axl teased.

"Shut up, this is a matter of personal pride now." Palette snapped, keeping her eyes on the crane, she successfully picked up a toy.

Plop.

It dropped back into the pile.

She placed another coin inside.

"Y'know, you're starting to sound a lot like Zero now." Axl smirked again.

"Stop teasing me, I'm trying to focus here." Palette grumbled, visibly annoyed.

Plop.

This time it dropped the moment she grabbed it.

"UGH! WHY DOES THIS MACHINE KEEP DOING THIS TO ME?!" Palette whined, banging her fists on ths glass of the machine.

"Y'know what? Let me try." Axl stepped forward and flicked another Zenny coin into this demon of a claw machine.

He focused his eyes on the crane in front of him, attempt after attempt, the toy kept on falling, after several more rounds of grumbling and screams of pure agony, they definitely had an audience watching them now.

Axl looked at his free hand, one last Zenny coin, reluctantly, he slid it inside, hoping for the best.

Eyes were watching closely and intensely, his own staring at the crane, as if he had telekenisis of some sort, c'mon, move! And don't drop! He said in his mind, knowing that the claw machine wouldn't listen.

The machine successfully managed to grab a stuffed rabbit out of the pile, grabbing it by the ear.

The crane moved closer and closer to the tube, he was nearly there-

Plop.

A few moments later, A small, white bunny came out of the claw machine.

He did it.

He actually did it.

Cheers and applause from humans and Reploids alike roared in the background, it was almost deafening.

"You did it, Axl!" Palette exclaimed, "I never thought this would happen, but it did!"

"What? I'm sorry, Palette, I can't hear you!"

...

A few moments later, after the crowd had quietened and broken up, Axl and Palette walked out of the arcade.

"Well... that was... something." Palette grinned, "What did you think of your first arcade experience, Axl?" She asked.

"I thought it was pretty great!" Axl grinned back. "Except for the part where I went broke trying to grab a bunny, but hey, at least I got something!" He beamed.

"Hey, you started it!" Palette playfully nudged him on the shoulder.

"And you insisted to keep going." He smirked back.

"Ugh, I hate it when you're right." She groaned, "But you're right, it was fun."

She looked at the stuffed rabbit in his arms, "Have you figured out what to name it yet?" She asked enthusiastically.

"Oh, this?" Axl looked down, staring at the rabbit with it's cute pink bow, "I dunno, here, you get to keep it." He tossed it over to Pallette, who thankfully managed to catch it.

"Well, if you say so..." she paused, "I guess I'll call it Fluffkins..."

"Aw, c'mon, that's all you could think of?" Axl frowned.

"What? Do you have a better name?" She smirked.

"What about something like, Ms. Hopps the 3rd?" He grinned, they both burst out in laughter, "No way I'm calling her that." Palette chuckled.

"..."

"..."

'Hey, Palette?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think we could do this again sometime?"

"Sure! But don't expect me to go easy on you just because you got me Fluffkins!"

"Oh, you're on!"

________________________________________________________

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has got to be my favorite to write so far, Axl's not my favorite out of the bunch, but I still like him.
> 
> It took me a while to get this out, Days at the Hunter Base was originally from my Quotev account, since I've pretty much abandoned that site, I decided to move it here, it's also on my Writeblr, which'll probably get quicker updates, since I'm not as used to this site, but I'll try.
> 
> Annnd I've got more chapters to move here! Stay tuned!


	4. Finding Shelter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> X finds an abandoned puppy and tries to convince everyone to let him keep it, Alia reminds him of a simillar incident.

"Please, Alia! Can we keep it?" X was basically on his knees and begging at this point, holding the little Beagle puppy he'd found in a box on the street with his hands.

"Correction, X, can you keep it?" Zero rubbed his hands against his face, clearly tired of dealing with this, "Besides, I'm allergic to dogs, remember?"

"You just put up that front after what happened with the Golden Retriever! And besides, we're Reploids, we can't have allergies!" X snapped.

"For the seventh time, X, we can't adopt it, no matter how cute it is." Alia said, trying to keep her calm.

"But- I promise to take good care of it! And it needs a home, what kind of person-or Reploid, do you have to be to abandon a puppy and leave it in a box?!" He shivered, looking back at the moment when he found the Beagle in an alley, all cold and wet, staring at him with its big, wide eyes.

"Riiiiight, you said it yourself, X, remember the last time you tried to keep a pet?" Zero said, half-grumbling and half-smiling, remembering the Golden Retriever X had picked up that day, while everyone still couldn't remember how X had convinced them to let him keep the puppy, but what came afterwards was a complete disaster, who would've thought that a cute, little puppy could be so...destructive?

It started off fine, the puppy was very obedient, barely caused a ruckus...then after two weeks...

The entire Hunter Base turned into a destructive whirlpool, the puppy started toppling things over, chewing on everything there was in the base, and scratching Reploids every chance it got (It had a strange attraction to Zero's helmet in particular.)

Even then, X insisted on keeping it.

Even with X's (and everyone else's) efforts to take care and tame the little troublemaker, things just got worse, furniture was constantly being destroyed and replaced, janitors were forced to work overtime, and in some cases, some unfortunate Reploids were sent to the infirmary.

Eventually, Commander Signas had enough of all the madness, and sternly told X to take the beast to an adoption center, told, no was not an option.

Hesitantly, X brought the puppy to the adoption center the very next day, Zero could vividly remember X trying to hold back tears, while X knew that it was the right thing to do, he couldn't help but feel a little sad.

While Zero was relieved that the little beast was gone (that meant his helmet was safe) He still tried his best to comfort X.

"It's not like it'll be abandoned a second time, X." Zero said, trying to show as much sympathy as possible, "I'm sure that they'll take good care of the puppy until they find someone who's willing to adopt it, maybe they'll even be able to tame it." He half-joked, while he was just saying this to cheer X up, he sincerely hoped that they'd be able to tame it, so that when it eventually got adopted, the new owners wouldn't have that much of a...problem compared to them.

"You're right." X smiled, wiping a tear from his eye before it could come out, "I just hope that it's new owners will be able to take care of it better than the entire HQ could." He laughed a little, Zero was glad that he managed to lift up X's spirits.

________________________________________________________

"Well, that was over a year ago!" X argued.

"X, we can't risk it," Alia tried to reason with him, "Besides, there's a chance that the cycle might repeat itself." She said.

"Alia makes a good point." Zero said, "I don't want to see you get all emotional again if Signas asks you to take it to the adoption center." He smirked.

X sighed, "Alright, I suppose you two are right..." He looked at the little Beagle, "It's just... The thought of this puppy being abandoned by its owners is really saddening, and I don't want it to go through it again."

"Think of it this way, X," Alia said, "If you take it to the adoption center sooner, the faster it'll find a better owner!" She smiled.

"And the sooner you send it to the adoption center, the less attached you'll be to it, meaning that it'll be less painful to say goodbye." Part of him wanted to add, "And plus, it'd make the lives of everyone here at HQ a whole lot easier." But he decided that it was enough coming from him.

________________________________________________________

Sometime later, X and Zero headed for the adoption center, upon arriving at the door X looked at the puppy, cuddling in his arms, he petted it on the head and quietly said, "I hope you'll get to live in a good home."

________________________________________________________

Shortly afterwards, they stepped out of the adoption center, thankfully, this time X had no tears to hold back.

"You know, Zero..."

"Hm? What is it, X?"

"When we can finally get rid of Mavericks once and for all, don't you think it'd be a good idea to get a pet? I've always wanted one."

"...No thanks, the Golden Retriever was more than enough."

They both laughed as they continued walking back to Hunter Base.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Originally from my Quotev account)
> 
> I gotta admit, I didn't exactly like this chapter, I mean, I wanted to write a fic about X adopting a wild dog, but coming from a person who never had any pets (unless you count the two turtles and two goldfish), this was hard to write.
> 
> This chapter may not be my favorite, but I was desperate to get an X chapter out, heheh.
> 
> P.S: The retriever was based off of my cousin's dog, That thing is a little tornado of it's own! The barking, the torn bedsheets and sofas, the scratches on my knee... Ironically, she's a Beagle! Made me wonder if I should've reversed the dogs' roles...
> 
> And the joke about the dog's attraction to Zero's helmet was based off of.... well, his helmet, more specifically, when you look at it from the back, they look a little like cat ears to me, so that was a "cats and dogs" thing, if you will.


	5. The Zero Fanclub

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What starts off as X, Zero and Axl going grocery shopping from Dr. Cain ends up in chaos as they encounter a wild group of the middle ground between regular Reploids and Mavericks, Fangirls, lots and lots of fangirls.

It was a normal day at Hunter Base.

Too normal, in fact.

Despite it being so long since the last major Maverick incident, X, Zero and Axl still weren't used to the peace and quiet. Funny, since that's what the Hunters strive for, but they'd become so accustomed to the havoc that peace seemed to worry them.

So whenever an opportunity comes by for them to do anything at all, they'd take it up, in this case, it was going grocery shopping for Dr. Cain.

"Man, ever since when did we become his personal caretakers?" Axl stretched his arms out, all that shopping tired him out, all of them never expected a grocery list to be so long, in fact, they were taking a break at a nearby cafe, they were that tired.

"Axl, it's not his fault that his actual caretaker turned out to be sick with the flu, besides, it's not like he'll be able to manage all of this grocery shopping by himself, be considerate." X scolded him.

"Besides, you told us that you wanted to tag along, so it's not like you didn't have a choice, so stop complaining." Zero added, "At least it's all over now, all we need to do is drop this off at his place, right?"

"Yep," X nodded, "I haven't visited him in a while, so I hope you don't mind if we stick around a bit longer."

"No problem at all." Zero said, then he proceeded to look at Axl with a stern gaze, "Right, Axl?"

"R-right!" Axl stuttered, while he'd been a Maverick Hunter for long enough to get used to Zero's glares, they still, and always felt...intimidating.

"Great!" X smiled, "Let's not keep him waiting."

________________________________________________________

They proceeded to walk out of the cafe, enjoying the nice afternoon breeze, when suddenly...

"OHMIGOSH!!! IS THAT ZERO?!" The high-pitched squeal of a teenage girl was a complete surprise to all of them, a moment later, a young, female Reploid ran up to them, or to be more specific, she ran up to Zero.

"Ohmigosh, are you really Zero?!" Her squealing became even more high-pitched, to the point where it sounded like she practically lived on helium.

She was bouncy, energetic, and couldn't stop fidgeting, she was also sweating all over.

And they thought Axl was energetic, this was a whole new level.

"Uhhhh...Yes...?" Zero responded rather cautiously, he was used to getting attention from journalists and the press, but for all of...this to come out of a young teenage Reploid?

...Wait, he thought, oh, great, not one of those again...

The girl's grin grew even wider, if that was even possible, "OHMIGOSH! IT REALLY IS!!!" she then motioned a signal to something behind her, yelling, "GIRLS! IT'S HIM! IT'S REALLY HIM!! COME HERE!!! WE FOUND HIM!!!!"

...a whole group?! 

X and Axl proceeded to back away slowly, but unfortunately for Zero, he wasn't able to do the same, a storm of teenage girls (both humans and Reploids) came out of an alley and ran up to him, bombarding him with squeals, questions, and adoration.

"I LOVE YOU, ZERO!!!"

What?

"KISS ME, ZERO!!!"

Huh?!

"ZERO!!! SIGN MY FANFIC!!!"

F-fanfic?!

Zero's face just stayed in a state of shock, this wasn't the first time he met someone like this, but to see so many in one place... it was overwhelming, to say the least.

X was watching this disaster unravel before his very eyes, his face in a state of pure horror, someone needed to help Zero, but X was the one carrying the groceries, which meant he had to choose between helping him or keeping the groceries safe, being the good person (or Reploid) he was, he dropped the groceries on the ground and ran up to help his best friend.

"Take care of the groceries for me!" X called out to Axl, who quickly grabbed the bags, without thinking, he rushed to where Zero was and grabbed his arm, Zero, who was understandably sweating bullets by now, turned around and saw Axl mouthing the words, "Follow me!" they looked at X, who nodded, knowing what to do.

________________________________________________________

While Zero and Axl ran from the angry crowd, X tried desperately to calm them down, before the angry teenagers could chase Zero down, X blocked their way, the entire crowd stopped and went quiet.

Thing is, now he couldn't tell whether he made things better or worse.

The Reploid leading the pack clenched her fists, "Grrrr.... LET US SEE ZERO!" She yelled, the rest of the pack raising their fists in the air.

X would rather be anywhere else right now, but he learnt from experience that you'd have to stay calm if you want to handle hyperactive teens.

X sighed deeply, then said as clearly and sternly as possible, "Not until all of you explain yourselves." he paused, "I don't want to resort to violence, but I will if absolutely necessary, so can all all of you co-operate with me?" He took another deep breath and hoped that things would slowly resolve peacefully-

"HOW DARE YOU INTERFERE WITH OUR PLANS OF MEETING ZERO?!" One of them yelled, the others shouted simillar things in agreement.

They started trying to push past him, but he somehow managed to keep them from going on a rampage.

...Unfortunately, life, as he should've figured out ages ago, was never that simple.

________________________________________________________

The two were escaping the crowd so quickly that it was all a blur to Zero, all he knew was that he needed to run, fast.

Eventually, they found a hiding spot in an alley, Axl put down the groceries that he had held in one hand, the other he had used to hold Zero's hand as they were running away.

After a few moments of catching their breaths, Axl turned to look at Zero and said, "Zero, I've never seen you like this before, you'd usually keep your cool around admirers, but I've never seen you- well, you know what I'm talking about."

"Well... yeah, I would, but there's just...so many of them." He panted, still exhausted from running.

"Heh, I suppose so." Axl said, "Y'know, Zero, to be honest, I think it's kinda obvious that you'd have obsessive fangirls stalking you."

"Hm? What's that supposed to mean?" Zero asked, what was so special about him? He was just another Hunter doing his job, that was all.

"Eheh, Zero, it's actually kinda suprising that you don't know." he said, "You've just got those qualities that fangirls seem to love."

"O-okay..." Zero stammered, he didn't know why he was the one people seemed to be attracted to, and he didn't care, he just hoped that X could manage the mob all by himself.

What was he thinking? Of course X could manage it, if he managed to defeat Sigma multiple times by himself, then of course he could manage a crowd of screaming fangirls.

"...Hello? EARTH TO ZERO!" Axl yelled, Zero immediately snapped out of his thoughts.

"Zero, this is no time to be zoning out!" Axl told him, "We'll need to get back out there before X becomes roadkill!"

"Yeah, you're right." Zero said, "I don't want to give him any more trouble than I already have, besides, I think I've calmed down a little." He paused, looking at Axl, "So? Hurry up, we don't want to keep him waiting, do we?"

"Y-yeah, right!" Axl grabbed the grocery bags and quickly followed behind Zero, he hated being rushed, but it was understandable in this case.

________________________________________________________

Eventually, Zero and Axl caught sight of X, who was currently holding back against the tackle of an angry fangirl (and resisting the pull on one of his feet thanks to another), they stopped and let go at the sight of the two other Hunters.

"Zero, Axl! Thank goodness both of you are back! I was really worried about you two, plus I wasn't sure how much longer I could hold b-" X was interrupted by heaps of incomprehensible screaming, "ZERO!!! OHMIGOSH, I'M SO HAPPY THAT YOU DECIDED TO COME BACK! CAN YOU TAKE A SELFIE WITH ME?!"

X yelled out loudly enough for the two Hunters to just barely hear him, "I'm sorry, Zero! I tried reasoning with them, but I think they'll only listen to you!"

"It's alright, X, I'll handle this." Zero stepped forward, the fangirls were getting closer, "Okay, can any of you explain this?" He said as sternly as possible, something he was thankfully very good at.

One of the fangirls stepped in front, she seemed to be a mixture of shy, anxious, nervous and timid at the same time, she might've been the most sane of the crowd, "'Uh, Ummm, w-where do I start?! Uh, it's just t-that we're all your biggest fans. a-and w-we started a club dedicated to fangirling, all a-about you, of course," she was getting red in the face, obviously embarrassed, "I-it started off with just t-talking about you and writing s-silly fanfiction, but over time. we started doing m-more, ummm, questionable things, like..." Her voice trailed off, "Like...what?" Zero asked, not realizing that he had probably made one of the worst mistakes in his life, he could hear Axl give him a sigh of disapproval in the background and X backing away slowly.

The girl was a stuttering mess by now, the words at the tip of her tongue, but they wouldn't come out, perhaps it was for the best, Zero thought.

"You don't have to, it's fine, if it makes you feel that uncomfortable, then you should stop." he said, everyone sighed a breath of relief, Zero was glad that he dodged a bullet there.

"Anyway, I suppose I should ask you, how'd you manage to know where I was?" He asked, hoping that it was just stalking, and nothing else-

"Um- uhhhh.... I-we...ermmm..." her face was getting hot and sweaty, and was almost, if not redder than Zero's armor, suddenly, one of the fangirls from the crowd raised her voice.

"It was only a matter of stalking, sheesh, why are you such a mess?"

Someone else spoke up, "...And in order to do that, someone thought it was a good idea to break into Maverick Hunter HQ."

The club leader was getting red in the face, "H-hey! It's not l-like we had any other options! Besides, it w-was a decision we a-all agreed on!"

The timid fangirl, the first to speak up inhaled, and then said, "No, it wasn't! You FORCED us to agree! And even then, only two others volunteered for the break-in!"

Axl decided to speak up, "Besides," he said, "Wasn't there a better, more sane option? Wouldn't any normal human being- or Reploid just, I dunno, walk up to the nearest person and ask, 'Hey, do you happen to know where Zero was headed?' You know, something that DIDN'T involve breaking the law?"

"NO ONE ASKED FOR YOUR OPINION, LOSER!' The club leader screamed.

"Okay, I just want everyone to stop," X raised his voice, "Can we just talk it out without a second of shouting?"

"..."

"Alright," Zero continued interrogating the group, "So you broke into Hunter Base, and how'd you find out where I was?"

"Oh, we broke in, grabbed some purple-haired Navigator chick by the neck and asked where you were headed." 

Purple-haired Navigator... could it have been... Layer?!

"Y-you what?!" All three of them were shocked beyond any further wording.

One of the fangirls also decided to speak up, "You almost got arrested there! We saw it all through the side window!"

"But at least we didn't!" The club leader yelled, her sapphire eyes giving an angry glare.

Finally, X decided to get his point across, "So, what I'm getting here is that you broke into HQ without any sort of authorization and threatened a Navigator who had little to nothing to do with this, on the chance that she knew Zero's location, that's punishable by law!"

"Yeah!" Axl joined in, "You could get arrested by the police at any time now- wait, we basically are the police!" He smirked.

Zero smiled, "There's no need to arrest anyone, Axl, look at who's coming."

They all turned their attention to several Ride Chasers with the Maverick Hunter logo on them, Zero flashed a quick thumbs up towards a Hunter he recognized from his own unit.

"Sorry 'o keep 'ou waiting, sir." He apologized, "There was a bit o' a delay tracking 'em down, Didn't even expect you to be involved in this! Did anything bad 'appen to you, sir?"

Zero shook his head, giving another small smile, "There wasn't any trouble at all, don't worry." X shot him a look that was somewhat angry and teasing at the same time.

"That's good to hear, sir, now if you don't mind me, I'll 'ave to arrest these folks, HQ's probably gonna let 'em off with a bit o' the ole' interrogation, well, minus the ones who broke in an' threaten'd that Navigator, 'ope that lass is alright."

While a few members were kicking and screaming as they were being handcuffed, the rest accepted their punishment with no problem.

Before they were taken away, Zero decided to say one last thing, "You know, if you asked nicely without the aggresiveness, I would've been glad to give an autograph or something."

One of the fangirls turned around and said, "We know, well most of us, anyway, but thanks for putting an end to Alissa's madness, most of us were too terrified of her to object to anything."

Alissa turned out to be the Reploid leading the club, she was screaming agressively, trying to free herself of the handcuffs.

Zero laughed a little, "No problem, I hope this'll be an important lesson for all of you."

_______________________________________________________

"Hey, Axl, Remind me to request higher security once we get back to HQ." X said as they were walking to Dr. Cain's house, it was already late in the evening, he was probably already worried sick.

"Sure, we don't want anything like that to happen ever again, after all!" He grinned.

"By the way, Axl, I remember you telling me that I have qualities that fangirls seem to love." Zero said, "What exactly did you mean by that?"

"Hm? What's this? Something I missed out on?" X smiled.

Zero told him what had happened in the alley.

"Well, I can certaintly see what Axl meant by that." X nodded.

"Hm?"

"Well, to answer your question, Zero," Axl grinned, "You're insanely cool, and not just character-wise, they probably have a thing for your hair and the rest of your appearance, too."

"Oh, this?" He looked at himself, "I really don't see what's so appealing about it, looks too flashy to me."

"Riiight, clearly whoever made you cared more about your design than fixing your agonizing unawareness issue." Axl groaned.

Axl took out his phone and opened up some sort of social networking app, X and Zero stared to look at what he was doing.

Soon enough, he opened up some sort of tabloid profile, one of their latest posts was a poll titled, "Which of these Maverick Hunters is the Hottest?" And surprise, surprise, all three of them were the poll options.

It hadn't even been out for a day and the poll already had over 10,000 votes, Zero ranked first with 71%, X with 10% and Axl with 19%.

"See? Told ya, Zero, people go crazy for the hair." Axl grinned.

Zero wasn't sure whether to be flattered or embarrased to rank first, he didn't look that good to people, did he?

No matter, it didn't matter if he was the most attractive or not, what mattered most was whatever he was tasked to do in the present.

Eventually, they reached Dr. Cain's house, way later than they thought they'd be, of course.

"So all of you are finally here! I was getting very worried, did something happen?" The old archaeologist asked.

"Let's just say that we ran into a bit of...trouble." Zero forced a smile.

"No matter, I'm just glad you managed to come, thanks for taking care of the groceries, I'm sure I can count on you again, right?" He chuckled.

"Dr. Cain, I'm sorry, but with all due respect, never again." Axl said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Originally from my Quotev account)
> 
> I had a bit of writer's block writing this chapter, but I managed to get it done! I wanted to write a chapter with the kinda-4th-wall-break about Zero having fangirls, it took a long time to finish this one because I had to change some major plot points along the way, it was tiring, but I think it was worth it!
> 
> (Also I know Dr. Cain is supposed to be dead around X4-ish, just let him live in my mess of a fanfic, he deserves appreciation, too.)


	6. Cooking With the Navigators: Cookies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Palette wakes up early in the morning, extremely hungry, after being caught by Alia and Layer in an unsuccessful fridge raid, she's somehow dragged into making cookies.

Pallette walked sluggishly towards Maverick Hunter HQ's kitchen, a place usually reserved for making and storing food for lunch breaks, not that Reploids needed food anyway, but if they were built with the ability to eat, then why not?

Palette, it's 5 in the morning, what are you even doing here? She thought to herself.

Shut up, I'm hungry, there must be something in here...

PALETTE, 5 IN THE MORNING, DO YOU EXPECT THERE TO BE ANY FOOD IN HERE?

Great, a back-and-forth conversation with herself, an arguement, even better, what a great way to start the day.

She opened up the fridge and found nothing but raw meat and vegetables inside, needless to say, she was very disappointed.

See? You should've just grabbed a Pocky from your snack stash. The voice inside of her head grumbled.

Nnnggghh.... But I'm getting tired of Pocky sticks, and Axl keeps stealing from the stash anyway, She whined.

Suddenly, she heard the door open.

Alia and Layer walked into the room, shocked to find Palette.

"Pallette? What are you doing in here?" Alia asked.

"I-IT'S NOT WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE!" Palette shrieked, Great, I'm in trouble now, she thought.

"Relax, I'm not angry at you, are you hungry?" She smiled.

"Y-yeah... That's pretty much it..." She stuttered, relieved that they weren't going to scold her.

"Layer and I were going to make cookies for breakfast, since you're here, do you want to watch us bake a batch?"

"Uh, sureeee...?" Making breakfast at 5? What oddballs. She thought.

While Alia got the ingredients out of a nearby cupboard, Layer proceeded to take out all of the other necessities, bowls, spoons, the rolling pin...

"Ever since when did you two learn how to bake?" Palette asked.

"It, um, started out as a small hobby," Layer explained, "Plus it's kind of fun, that and it's better than store-bought snacks, a-and it's healthier, of course."

Palette nodded her head, "Yeah, I guess you're right." Even if supermarket snacks/foods were easy to prepare, foods made from scratch were usually better.

"Do you know how to bake, Palette?" Layer asked.

Palette shook her head, "Unfortunately, no."

Suddenly, an idea popped up in Alia's head, "I know!" She exclaimed, "Why don't you help out? We can teach you!"

"Uh, sure!" Palette had never seen Alia this enthusiastic before, was baking that fun?

Eventually, they set everything on the table, Flour, sugar, brown sugar, butter, vanilla extract and the necessary equipment, Palette was already getting hungry just looking at the ingredients.

"Okay, so first off, you're supposed to preheat the oven to 375°F." Alia instructed, reading from a new recipe she had found online.

"Uh, okay!" Palette turned around saw the baking oven in front of her, was it weird to admit that she was intimidated by it? After all, there were so many things she was unfamilliar with, all the buttons and dials... She didn't know what to press or turn.

"Here, let me help." Layer came over to show her the ropes, she placed her fingers on the top dial on the side of the oven, labelled "Temperature", upon closer inspection, Palette noticed that the dial had numbers marked around it, "You just turn the dial to the number you want to set the temperature to, like this." Layer then proceeded to turn the dial to 375°F, "See? It's simple."

"Hmmm, yeah, you're right!" Palette grinned.

________________________________________________________

Shortly afterwards, it was time to move onto the main event, making the batter!

"Sooooo, what do we do first?" Palette was eager to get started, making the batter seemed like such a fun but simple task.

"Well, look at who's excited!" Alia smiled, "Anyways, what we need to do first is pour two and a quarter cups of all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon of baking soda..."

"Mmm hmm." Palette nodded, carefully putting in the already-measured ingredients in the bowl, while Layer was watching her quietly to make sure that she wasn't doing anything wrong.

"1 teaspoon of salt-"

"Salt?! What do you need SALT for?" Palette cut her off, "Why would you need salt in cookies?"

"Well, it's not like a little bit of salt ruins an entire cookie, Palette, it won't turn salty so easily." Layer assured her, "Besides, you like salted caramel, right? So I don't really see any problem," She paused for a while, standing in the awkward silence, i-it's not like I'm saying that what you're saying is wrong, I understand where you're getting at, I-i'm just saying that salt helps, t-that's all."

"Hmmm, well, that IS a good point..." Palette said, "Alrighty, then, salt it is!" She carefully put in a teaspoon of salt in the bowl.

Shortly afterwards, Palette had put in almost every ingredient in the bowl, "Ummm, so, what do we do with the rest of the ingredients?" She asked, "Well, we're not quite done yet, Palette, Do you see thiis here?" She then pointed at another bowl, this time accompanied with a mixer, "Well, just put in the rest of the ingredients and press this button on the mixer."

"Hmm, got it!" Palette said, Alia had to make sure she didn't just dump everything in.

"Annnnd now I just need to push this button!" Palette then moved her fingers closer to the side of the mixer.

click.

Nothing happened.

"Huh? Why isn't anything happening?" Palette was puzzled, repeatedly clicking the button.

"Layer, are you sure the mixer was properly plugged in?" Alia asked, concerned.

"I-I'll see." She then checked the socket the mixer cable was connected to, surprisingly, there didn't seem to be anything wrong.

"No, sorry...There doesn't seem to be any visible problems..." Layer looked embarrassed, her face covered in a bright red.

"Don't worry, Layer, it's not your fault," Alia comforted her, "besides, that mixer is a little old, HQ never really bothered replacing it,"

"Technical difficulties aside, what are we gonna do now?" Palette asked, it was difficult to mask her disappointment.

Alia had a smile spread across her face, she didn't seem to be very bothered, "Don't worry, I've got a Plan B!"

She lifted up her right arm, a few moments later, her right hand turned into a whisk.

Palette looked amazed, "Whoah, I never knew you could do that, Alia! I mean, I knew that you could turn your hand into a Buster like X can, but this..."

"I may not be a new-generation Reploid, but according to Dr. Cain, later models of the old generation were built with several wares installed in their arms, in his words, it "was so that Reploids could better experience human culture", I'm pretty sure that both of you are also able to do the same if you wanted to."

Sure enough, new-generation Reploids were also built with this ability, Layer had managed to turn her hand into a drill, but quickly put it down, "It's a...pretty interesting feature, to say the least." She said, "By the way," Palette added, "Can't we just use a whisk from the cupboards or something?"

"We could, but an arm-whisk is much quicker to take out!' Alia smiled.

Using her arm-whisk, she managed to finish mixing the batter in no time, after that, they poured the flour mixture into the bowl, adding in two cups of chocolate chips.

"Do you want to add in nuts, Palette?" Layer asked, "Meh, no thanks, I'd rather not." Palette said.

They mixed it all together (using a spoon this time), and it was actually looking quite good,

"Hey, d'you think I could try a bit of cookie dough?" Palette asked.

"I wouldn't recommend it, but I guess it's fine..." Alia mumbled, she quickly realized, however, that Palette had already started licking cookie dough off of her fingers, Alia let out a small sigh.

They used a mini ice cream scoop to lay out the cookie dough onto the baking sheets, making sure that each induvidual scoop was spaced far enough from each other so that they could bake into their proper size and avoid them into merging together.

After that, they plopped it into the oven, now all they had to do was wait.

"How long will we have to wait for, again?" Palette asked.

"10 minutes, I think..." Alia took a look at the recipe again, "It shouldn't take too long-" Suddenly, a young, rookie Hunter came into the room, "E-excuse me, are Alia and Layer here?"

"Yes, what is it?" Layer asked, hoping that nothing urgent was happening.

"I-it's nothing much, but there's a small problem regarding the 13th Unit's expedition, and the Commander needs a couple of Navigators to sort things out, I know it's early in the morning, but-"

"We'll be right there." Alia told him, she turned to look at Palette, "You can look out for the cookies while we're gone, right?"

"Yeah, don't worry, Just leave it to me!' She grinned and waved them off as the door shut.

Palette looked at the time, eight minutes left, eh, I'll probably have enough time to try and beat that level...She thought to herself as she pulled out a portable console.

________________________________________________________

"STAGE CLEAR!" Yelled the announcer.

"YES!" Palette cheered as she looked at the badly-beaten-up dragon lying down on the ground defeated as her avatar did a victory pose on the screen of her little portable.

"Wow, that took a while...I've probably levelled up enough to go to the next stage, let's see...Smoky Skies?" just then, something hit her head like a metal pipe, "Wait...smoke?"

She looked up from the screen, she must've been too absorbed into beating the boss, because she then realized that the smell of smoke was coming from the oven, "Oh, no..."

Just then, the door opened, Alia and Layer walked in, "Hey, Palette, sorry for being late, there was a small complicat-" Alia paused as she saw what was going on, they both rushed to the oven and immediately took the cookies out, what should've been cookies with a nice, golden brown color were now a very, very dark brown.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't pay enough attention, it's my fault, and-"

"It's alright, Palette, we can always try again next time." Layer told her, "There's always a first time for everything, after all."

"Thanks, Layer." Palette smiled, she looked at the cookies, "They may be burnt, but they could still taste good, have hope." Alia told her.

Just as Palette was about to grab a cookie, Alia grabbed her hand, "We'll still have to wait for them to cool, be patient."

"Alright, fine..." Palette mumbled, despite the fact that she was starving, well, not really, Reploids couldn't really get hungry the same way humans do, but she just needed to fuel herself up with some food, nevertheless, she waited.

________________________________________________________

A while later, they sat down at a table in the HQ's cafeteria, eating the burnt cookies (which were still pretty good, surprisingly) and sharing small stories and laughing together, Palette had noticed a slight personality change in them recently, they had become more relaxed and cheery with the lack of any threats, which was a good thing, they all needed a nice break every now and then.

"So, what did you think of your first baking session, Palette?" Layer asked, "I hope that, um, incident didn't ruin it all."

"Oh, not at all!" Palette told them, "it was actually...kinda nice, we should try this again sometime!" She grinned.

"Glad that you enjoyed it!" Alia said, "Speaking of trying it again, there's going to be a new Navigator working with us in a few weeks, why don't we try and bake these again as a welcome gift?" She suggested.

"That sounds like a good idea," Layer nodded her head, "Her name was...RiCO, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, RiCO, she seems to be very enthusiastic about working with us, seems like a nice person, what do you say?"

"I'm in!" Palette cheered, "...As long as I don't mess up again, heheh!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew! Finally finished moving all of the completed chapters! Now onto actually writing again!  
> (Also I suck at writing baking stuff, don't expect me to do this again)
> 
> The recipe I used was the Nestle Tollhouse recipe, if you were curious.


End file.
